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Topic Review (Newest First)

11-20-2013 11:40 AM

christian.hess

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

its usually people who have no experience whatsoever in full keeled and heavy displacement boats that bash them...or that buy a new catalina cause thats what tey were told to do.

I love your comment about acceleration...this is exactly true...another flip side comment to this is that once you have acheiveed max speed on boats like the westsail 32 its like you are on rails...stiff and on track...

this was how my heavy as hell 28 foot h28 behaved it weighed twice what normal 26-28footers weighed but I could do 8knots steady on a broad reach with all sails up(no spinnaker)

again what helped was that it was a stubby ketch....with heavily stayed masts, and twin backstays...so the ability to carry bigger sail plan longer is exactly what makes them efficient heavy weather sailors...not to mention a long full keel that makes tracking straight AND motion at sea much nicer...

its all about learning to sail your boat how the designer intended to..

simple!

good comments guys!

11-20-2013 01:22 AM

Oregonian

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

One more thought: The Westsail-32 is, of course, not the only boat abused by “hearsay” The DownEast 38 was recently mentioned around here in a derogatory way. It being just one other example.
I delivered a DownEast 38 from Okinawa, Japan to Astoria Oregon in 39 days. Shortly thereafter, I delivered a Baltic 43 from Osaka, Japan to Port Angeles, Washington in 31 days. The Baltic delivery was 800 miles shorter. The math shows a 128.2 mile per day average for the DownEast 38 and a 135.5 mile per day average for the Baltic 43. That is approximately a 1/4k difference. The real difference was caused by the extra crew member that the Baltic required. The DownEast 38 was BY FAR the more comfortable and easier to sail boat. The Baltic was a poor excuse for a cruising boat IMO. Boats like that should be labeled as “coastal cruiser” or “inland cruiser”

11-20-2013 01:04 AM

Markwesti

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

Oregonian, didn't I just see you in Avalon in Sept.? You were headed to San Diego for the Winter. Anyhow thanks for that post , I think some people get turned away from a Westsail because of the neg. thing . But you and I know it's just the have not's comparing apples to oranges with no real world experience. Bob really, do the physics? I'm a little intimidated here, I mean you, the NA with many wonderful/successful designs . OK here goes, the Yankee pulls. How did I do?

11-20-2013 12:05 AM

Oregonian

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

I address this to anyone who has any opinion or interest concerning the Westsail 32. This includes: bfloyd445, vtoz7053, duchess of Montrose, Barquito, and shipislandpirate, just to name a few.
The Westsail 32 in the last photo is real, it is not a drawing. It is sailing at 4.2k in 4.2k of apparent wind, and 3.1k of true wind. This picture and the instrument pictures have been posted before. Most responders to the pictures were not believers. The two people aboard the boat that took the picture were also not believing what they saw, as they were motoring up the coast of Washington. Is 4.2k in 3.1k of wind fast or slow? I believe it to be respectable. Would a Comet 41 or Farr 38 really be much faster?
The Westsail 32 never was a slow boat. It is only a slow “accelerating” boat. ( I may lose 0ne boat length per tack during a race against more modern boats) It takes 3 things to sail well in very light airs: 1) Some knowledge of what to do. 2) The right equipment for that boat. 3) A willingness to do it. The personality of the person who buys a W-32 has a different personality than the person who buys a Comet 41. Westsail owners, for the most part, are not inclined to sail faster. I was in that group. I finally tired of the negative comments, brought about by hearsay, and decided to start sailing faster. I now sail around about 1/2k faster than in my earlier days. The boat is still a W-32 in all regards and carries 2 dinghies, 4 anchors, 80 gals of water, and just about everything else. The boat has been a liveaboard for 26 years. To say a W-32 is slow is to say that most 35’ Racer/Cruisers and most modern cruisers, when cruising, are slower. The local and distant races run by this boat have proven that repeatedly. It is the other boats fault that it is slower than a Westsail. I will not repeat the boat types that have proven themselves slower than a Westsail as it angers many people. The very same people that propagate the hearsay.
One huge problem to combat the hearsay is caused by the owners of the “slower’ boats, who will not own up that they were beaten by a Westsail because of all they have heard. Their admission is simply too painful apparently.
One moderator to this forum said “the Westsail is useless as a sailboat in under 10k of wind. Is 4.2k in 3.1k of wind being useless? One moderator said “you’ll never see 7K”. The boat pictured has logged 1774nm in a 10 day period. ( It made good 1641nm ). Please do the math. Is that not respectable? The boat pictured has made 3 round trips to the South Pacific. It took 57 days to sail to New Zealand from Astoria Oregon (stopping in 5 countries). Is that fast or slow? It took 61 days to return (stopping in 4 counties). Is that fast or slow?
One more thing. The difference between a “fast” cruising boat and a very different “slow” cruising boat, at about 35’, when both boats are fully cruising, and as many variables as possible being equal, is 1/4k.
Thank you

11-20-2013 12:04 AM

capttb

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

That you used a GPS speed is all the explanation I need, thank you.

11-19-2013 10:40 PM

christian.hess

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markwesti

christain.hess ,that was indeed accurate, IMO. However Brent Swain is not totally wrong . Back in the day one thing that Kern Fergusen did (if you bought your sails from Westsail he made them) he came up with a sail called the super Yankee. Obviously it was just a bigger head sail , but from what I understand it works quite well . Maybe we could get Gary B to comment on that . TB I don't know what to tell you, I will offer this though . Westsail 32's got a reputation for being slow because of some inept skippers, back in the 70's they sold over 800 W32's not to mention a dream. West sail the world that was the sales pitch . So in some cases people would buy in and take off and not have much of a clue as how to handle the boat and make it preform to it's potential . Plus TB , 6knt's isn't all that fast what kind of boats are you talking about ? Did the skipper have over 30 yr's experience sailing ? Plus, OK I was talking perfect conditions , but still that's what the GPS says.

brent swain is most defintely not wrong, I love his info...I was just offering a flip side comment!

11-19-2013 10:35 PM

bobperry

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

Think about the physics of the Yankee.
No,,,,just think about it a bit.

11-19-2013 10:29 PM

Markwesti

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

christain.hess ,that was indeed accurate, IMO. However Brent Swain is not totally wrong . Back in the day one thing that Kern Fergusen did (if you bought your sails from Westsail he made them) he came up with a sail called the super Yankee. Obviously it was just a bigger head sail , but from what I understand it works quite well . Maybe we could get Gary B to comment on that . TB I don't know what to tell you, I will offer this though . Westsail 32's got a reputation for being slow because of some inept skippers, back in the 70's they sold over 800 W32's not to mention a dream. West sail the world that was the sales pitch . So in some cases people would buy in and take off and not have much of a clue as how to handle the boat and make it preform to it's potential . Plus TB , 6knt's isn't all that fast what kind of boats are you talking about ? Did the skipper have over 30 yr's experience sailing ? Plus, OK I was talking perfect conditions , but still that's what the GPS says.

11-19-2013 06:39 PM

christian.hess

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

another take on that would be that their slightly undercanvased rig is what makes them such effective heavy weather sailors...

theres a flip side to most anything!

11-19-2013 04:51 PM

Brent Swain

Re: westsail 32, that bad?

All most Westsails need is a much bigger rig and a much greater sail area to displacement ratio then they are normally given.

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